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Monday, September 22, 2008

Do you like the scent of peppermint? You know those large sized peppermint Tic Tacs? They smell really good, don't they? I mean, you could probably just sit there and smell those all day long, couldn't you? No? Well, apparently Brooklyn could because she shoved one up her nose today when I was dropping Clay off to preschool.

"Ouch! Mom, it's stuck!"

"What's stuck?" I asked as Brooklyn rubbed her nose.

"She put the mint up her nose," Clay told me, matter-of-factly.

"Whaaaat?" I tilted Brooklyn's head and looked up her nose. Sure enough, just barely visible, was a slice of white mint peeking out.

Ever on my toes, poised for action, I plugged the non-minty nostril and told her to blow. Did I grab a tissue first? Oh no. That wouldn't be nearly disgusting enough. I just held my bare hand out in front of her nose and waited for her to blow the mint into my outstretched hand. Here's the thing though - Brooklyn's two. Two year olds don't always get the concept of "blow". Instead of blowing through her nose, she kinda spit into my hand.

"Well, that's um, nice." By this time, the kids have all taken their seats and the teachers are trying to start class. I'm still standing there, alternating looking up Brooklyn's nose and telling her to blow. Evidently, a mom attempting to get a toddler to blow her nose into her hand is distracting to preschoolers. Who knew?

So I grabbed a couple tissues, picked up Brooklyn, who has minty-fresh snot running down her face by this time, and headed to the car. Once at the car, I held the tissues up and told her to blow her nose one more time. She did it and the mint, which was starting to melt, came flying out in a sticky trail of goo.

This was followed by my newly created lecture that goes a little like this: You never, ever put mints up your nose. You don't put them in your ears or eyes either. They go in your mouth ONLY!

67 comments:

When my 3 1/2 year old son shoved a candy up his nose, I googled "how to get a pea out of your nose" because I figured that "How to get a Yo-Go out your nose" wouldn't get as many hits. Sure enough, I found the solution and considered myself McGyver/McDreamy/Marcus Welby all day:

Hold your precious son like an infant in your arms so that he is facing you and the plugged nostril is closest to you. Hold the opposite nostril closed with your finger, place your wide open mouth over his oh-so-little-protesting-mouth and blow hard. The force of the air from your mouth with no nostril to go out will force the offending candy to expel quickly out onto your shirt, thus verifying that yes, he did in fact shove a pink Yo-Go up his nose. He was mad as hell that I blew in his face but we saved ourselves a trip to emergency. We, too, have had the discussion of where candies go...

ha ha! i had a "stuff up a two-year-old's nose" experience too today! a friend of mine's daughter stuck a ponytail holder in her nose. i learned something very interesting though: apparently there is a trick to getting things out of the nose of those who cannot "blow" on command! if you blow a quick puff of air in their mouth it will push the item right out of their nose - or at least to the point that you can get it safely. It really works!

oh yeah- been there, done that. my oldest dd stuffed raisin brad, pepperoni, most of a paper towel, and a huge piece of a chicken nugget up her nose (one at a time!) when she was about 2. my dad was the one who discovered the chicken when she sneezed on him... my other daughter stuffed a piece of a foam finger up her nose and we didn't discover that until we had her at the pediatrician for what i was sure was a horrendous sinus infection. our poor dr. was pregnant at the time and she nearly hurled at that one- the smell is not nice!! ahh, good times...

Isn't it amazing the things they come up with? My oldest when he was 2 stuffed both nostrils full of mini-m&ms. I mean, could not breathe, filled to capacity. I can tell you, they melt in your nose as well as your mouth. Being another creative individual and not the brightest, I used what was immediately handy to get them out of his nose, my pinky fingernail, until he was able to actually blow the rest out. I still won't allow them in my house and it's been over 11yrs.

Ahhhh...what they don't put in the parenting manuals. LOL

Thanks again for the great blog. My Nico and your Brooklyn sound like two peas in a pod and it's so nice to know I'm not alone.

Well, at least it wasn't a bean- sized "ROCK" and an emergency room visit! My now age 32 year old daughter did the same thing at that age, but it required suction at the ER. Thanks for the memory - LOL

Keep doing what you are doing... they will survive and so will you! And think of all the embarrassing stories you can tell when they are grown up. Hehehehe

I am pretty much done with tissues as well, and my son is only 15 1/2 months old. He likes to spit half-chewed food out and hand it to me, and I figure if I just grab it, it's easier to wash my hands than it is to wash his! Being a mom is so awesome! And goes against almost all of my germaphobe tendencies :)

My daughter Brooke did the same thing years ago. It was a rock, not a mint. ER doctor couldn't get it out. Next morning she went into "surgery" with an ENT. Yup, that 5 minute surgery cost $3,000. I still have the rock in a plastic container. That thing cost more than most diamond rings.

My little sis did the sponge up the nose also, when she was small. I remember that doctor visit well-her screams could be heard as the doctor dug the borribly smelling thing out. My younger daughter did the pea gravel in the ear routine. Had to visit the ear specialist for that one! She was in grade school for that one.

My son put a raisin in his nose, and DH tried to get it out. I plugged the one side, and he blew it out. I couldn't say much. When I was little, I put a kernel of corn in my ear. The doctor poured a pitcher of warm water into my ear from a height of about 2 feet and washed it out. My family has never let me forget it.

Mine have all shoved food up their noses, too. The problem one was when my daughter shoved a hollow bionicle piece up her nose - you can't blow it out if it's hollow! Thank God it was on a Saturday, so hubby could take her to the ER. (He actually did look at me and ask, "So who wants to take her?")

Thanks for the laughs as I procrastinate cleaning my kitchen counters :)

A few years ago my son swallowed a quarter. He just couldn't pick a dime or penny that would pass through. That stupid quarter cost me a gazillion dollars in x-rays over several days to make sure he was ok. Nothing like waiting to hear "kerplunk" when he went to the bathroom. Not to mention what it cost my pride when friends make jokes like why i started using my son instead of a bank for deposits. :)

I'm sorry this is off subject, but there is a new "follow" feature on blogger. Whenever I try to follow your blog it tells me that it can not detect a feed from this URL. Do you have any idea why, or do you know if anybody else has had this problem? I hate not being able to figure things out, lol.

Many years ago when my now 38 yr old son was about 15 months, he stuffed peas up his nose. Many peas. Many, many peas. His nose was so lumpy it looked like he was a prize fighter.I called the pediatrician who asked me if they were cooked or uncooked peas. As I was saying "whaaaat?", my son sneezed peas all over the kitchen - jet propelled out of his nose. I found peas for months afterwards. Of note: uncooked peas would have been very bad because they would have swelled and caused all sorts of problems.

At least Tic Tacs melt. I have a friend who stuck a raisin up her nose. She learned the hard way that those expand with moisture. Unlike the M&M she'd previously shoved up there. I have 2 boys and I'm just waiting for this day. So far no foreign objects except a swallowed penny.

HA!! I'd enver hear the blow in the kid's mouth tip but will remember it - the one I always used was to shake some pepper out into the palm of my hand and tell the (idiot) kid 'here, smell this'. They ALWAYS heartily sniffed the pepper which then made them sneeze which then made the candy/rock/Barbie shoe pop right out!

The worst one was when my brother and his 2yo son were cozily sitting on the couch watching tv and eating popcorn, the 2yo was bouncing around on the couch and handily stuck a popcorn into my brother's ear! O, watch the ER docs laugh their heads off at THAT one!!!From Barbara O aka Sparkle

Oh My Gosh Dawn, The same thing happened to me when my son was two. But it was a red spree candy. I was a first time mom so I freeked out and drove him to the medi-center down the road. When we got there we were waiting in the waiting room and his nose was running red snot. Well my son being his funny self asks...After the Dr. takes it out..Can I eat it? It came out in the waiting room and I felt so stupid. And No he didn't eat it. LOL Kristine in Michigan.

My son Andrew shoved a Cheerio into his nose in January and that is what started me blogging. I haven't kept it going but I try.Your post brought back that memory and I laughed again.Christyadventuresfive.blogspot.com

Next time, and let's face it, there will probably be a next time (I have a large family as well-- 5 kids), plug the "good" nostril and blow in his/her mouth, (CPR style while they stand) if its a small item it will fly right out.

How do I know this? My second to youngest was brought to the emergency room after stuffing a dried bean up his nose when he was about the same as your little girl. The doctor had me repeat this a few times until I convinced him that we had only come as a last resort and had tried everything, but the bean was absorbing liquid and was very large.

By the time the doctor relented and literally dug it out... his nose looked like he had stuffed a freaking golf ball up there, even the doctor admitted he had never seen anything like it.

Unfortunately, yet still strangely fortunately, the blow in the mouth trick has come in handy more than once since. What is it with children and sticking things where they don't belong. I once got my finger stuck in a lampshade. Oh well I guess my children come upon it honestly.

Count your blessings at least it smelled nice. My friends daughter was less than 2 when she stuck an ORANGE Tic Tacs up her nose. She was too little too blow her nose so all they could do was lef it melt. So she had orange snot!

That story made me laugh. I recently had to pick up my 4 yr old from pre-school as he had blood pouring from his nose. He had mulch up there and the teacher was worried there were bits left, so I had to take him to the doc to get checked out. My son told me the mulch "crawled" up there. Yeah right! LOL!

Hilarious!!!! My son stuck a PEZ up his nose (he said he was smelling it) and because it made his nose bleed a little I ran him to the ER. By the time the doctor saw us the candy had melted and he had swallowed it. That was a fun 3 hours. By the way, the doctor did not know what a PEZ was. :)

When I was two, I shoved a red kidney bean up my nose and didn't tell my mother. That thing sat in my little moist nose for about two hours until I told my mother but by then, it had started to cook. We had to go to the doc cuz I couldn't even blow the thing out.

I'm prone to nosebleeds at certain times of the year. My youngest child, who was then about two, noticed that I often tore off bits of a tissue and stuck it up my nose.

So what did she do? She got hold of a box of tissues, tore them to little bits, and proceeded to put many, many small wads of tissue up her nostrils. Both of them. Way far in. And then she started to cry because, hey, shoving many, many wads of tissue paper up both nostrils isn't really that pleasant (I don't like doing it, either, but it's that or have blood running down my face. Yuck.).

We did eventually get all of the many, many wads of tissue out of her nostrils, but it took the better part of the day to do it. Happily, most came out on their own. And you can imagine what a beautiful sight that was! Adorable toddler with wads of snotty, gooey paper sliding down her upper lip! How cute, right?

So that's my story about children shoving things up their nose. She never did it again, but I couldn't really tell her that you shouldn't put tissues up your nose, now, could I? (I did explain that I only do it when I get a nosebleed.) Happily, she found the experience so uncomfortable that she never repeated it, though.

Kids just stick things up their noses and in their ears and into other orifices when the mood strikes them. It's a kid thing (though I think some people never do quite outgrow it).

I usually just grin or chuckle - no matter how gross your posts get: moldy food, vomit, blood (not that your families misfortunes are funny per say). But for some reason Brooklyn's tic tac story made my stomache roll. Thanks, especially on a 2-McDonalds Breakfast Burrito morning. :-)

Okay... I hate to admit this *hangs head in shame* but when I was in grade 3 (yes, they had grade 3 back then!) I had a substitute teacher who kept saying 'class, lend me your ear'. Being the clever child I was (I'm thinking 'Clay' at this point)... I made a paper 'ear' and set it on my real ear, patiently waiting for the substitute teacher to say her one-liner so I could be the class clown (again). Lo-and-behold, she said it... but when I went to grab my 'ear' I pushed it in... and the more I tried to get it, the further it went. Needless to say, I did not bring attention to myself (for once) and, somehow, (I didn't say I was a smart grade 3-er) forgot about the thing. Not even kidding, months went by before I had a massive earache. I just so happened to have an ear/nose/throat specialist (for valid reason, apparently) so my mom took me in. Try keeping a straight face when telling the doctor 'well I have no idea how THAT got in there'. It was the biggest, waxiest, grossest thing I've ever seen in my life. I think I denied the thing good enough but my mom, being the nice soul she is, casually said, as we walked down the street- 'you know you shouldn't put things in your ear, right'. To which I replied, 'Oh I know!' I wonder if they ever unravelled it to see exactly what it was? I should probably fill my mom in... now that I've told everyone else. Ha!

I remember my sister and I telling my little brother (about 3 or 4 yrs old at the time) to: "Open your mouth and close your eyes and you will get a big surprise!" We were chewing those tiny Chicklets gum, so naturally, he figured that's what he'd get. However, we stuck it up his nose! After yelling so my mom would hear, he blew and got it out without a problem so we didn't get in too much trouble. We still like to laugh about it!

oh my gosh...thank you so much for the laugh today; I am having a bit of a downer with life junk and that was the first time i've laughed in a few days! my middle child put a piece of foam nerf ball up one of her nostrils when she was 2...my goodness, the panic i had back then!!! it took the calmness of my sister to tickle her nose and make her sneeze it out...what a memory that brought back. HILARIOUS!!!

BTW... mentos up the nose do sting. Just ask the 8th grade boys in my son's class. Even better, one kid stuck a mentos up his nose, blew it out and some highschooler ate it! I know... I think I will go throw up now. Just goes to show you... kids are gross at ANY age!!

My 3 year old enhaled a button up her nose, and it would not even budge. 2 hours and $100 later, after the ER Dr. finally extracted it with baby oil and forceps we asked her why she put it in her nose. She answered that she wanted to see how it smelled. It did have a little pink flower painted on it. Obviously kids minds operate on overtime!

My middle daughter did this with a tic tac, as we were leaving to go to a family dinner. She cried and cried, we called the doctor because she said it burned. He told us to come in. It finally came out while we were in the waiting room at the doctors office. Kids!

So far with all of our kids, we've only had experiences with soggy Cheerios and popcorn kernels up noses. Cross your fingers though, Mister Crinkle-Nose has just hit the pahse of trying out weird things... who knows!

You are such a wise mom! This happened to me, too, when I was a kid. Well, I stuck a little piece of crayon up my nose. I have no idea why! My teacher didn't know what to do, so she sent me to the principal, who called my dad. He came from work, put his hankie up to my face, plugged the non-crayon-nostril, said "now blow!", and voila, out popped the crayon. I thought he was a genius! :-)

P.S. Thanks for posting the directions to that blanket you were crocheting. I started one in a baby yarn (white with flecks of pink and green) for my daughter, who is having a baby in December. Looks very cute so far!

OMG, I'm going to really pee my pants one of these days when I read your exploits. That reminds me of the time when we were kids that my younger brother stuck a kidney bean - yes a kidney bean - up his nose. That required removal by a professional.

I worked at chruch one summer... & as I was sitting down with the kiddos for lunch this little boys smiled at me & asked if I would "THIT" by him... I thought maybe he was just conjested till he leaned over to me & sneezed... shooting purple crayon & goo all over me... YUM.

Ha. My 2 year old loves to stuff tictacs up his nose, too!! I noticed him picking his nose after I gave him a tictac and gave him another one because I thought he ate the first one. I turn and look and suddenly he has 2 tictacs....how did that happen? I watched long enough to see him trying to shove it back in his nose. His tictac of choice is the cherry passion!!

If it had been a Mento, it wouldn't have gotten stuck in her nose! I don't have to worry about my almost-3 year old putting Tic Tacs in his nose because apparently, judging from his comments on their "what does this smell like" activity in preschool today, peppermint smells "Yucky." (And cinnamon smells like "chocolate" while vanilla, vinegar and lemon are all "stinky.")

I think you now have enough ammo to lobby congress or the EPA or the FCC or one of those agencies that Tic Tacs need a "warning, not for children under the age of three" label along with the instructions (that poison control and ER's need to have on hand, of course) "If Tic Tac becomes lodged in nasal, instruct victim to blow nose. If unsuccessful, watch carefully for 15 to 20 minutes to make sure it dissolves completely. Danger has passed when snot runs clear and minty fresh."

a missionary friend and i were talking about the strange things you say as a parent that you never imagined you ( or anyone, for that matter ) would ever need to say... he told me that he once admonished his 3 year old, " Don't lick that van! It's not ours!" It still makes me laugh...

My mother likes to tell the story about me sticking a plastic thing that holds the Barbie head on up my nose so I knew just what to do when my daughter stuck a pearl up her nose. You cover her eyes and blow pepper in her face so that she will sneeze it out. It worked almost perfectly too, except I forgot the 1st step, to cover her eyes. The pearl came out easily, but the screaming from the pepper in the eyes was a little unbearable for both her and myself. Once I flushed the pepper out of her eyes, she was fine. If you need any help with a child eating superglue, an earring in the ear canal, or a child eating pennies, I am your woman. Thanks!

So my Brooklynn loves to put things up her nose too. My mom took her to the ER after she realized she could not get the bead out of her nose. What they had her do is hold one one side of her nose with out the bead, open Brooklynn's mouth and blow into it. Out it came along with some goodies all over my mom's face. Now we can save an ER visit next time!

Ya. We did the exact same thing this spring but with a Goji berry. Except I wasn't smart enough to think of having her try to blow. I used a tweezers to pull it out. Now I'm feeling like the moron mom.... Duh, blow!